Comic Info
Comic Name: Green Arrow (Volume 2)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Kevin Smith
Artist: Phil Hester
# of Issues: 10
Release Date: 2002
Green Arrow (2) #7
Reprints Green Arrow (2) #1-10 (April 2001-January 2002). Oliver Queen is having a bad day. Waking up with amnesia and found by a man named Stanley, Oliver finds everything seems…off. Oliver saves a girl named Mia and sets out on his normal crimefighting in the city, but Oliver doesn’t know he’s dead. Killed in a plane explosion, Oliver cannot possibly be alive, but he is and no one has told him that he isn’t supposed to be. As the world learns Green Arrow is back, Oliver is about to learn the cold hard truth and must find out how he survived the explosion or if he really did.
Written by Kevin Smith and illustrated by Phil Hester, Green Arrow: Quiver is Kevin Smith’s follow-up to his run on Marvel’s Daredevil. The series was relatively well-received and also collected in Absolute Green Arrow by Kevin Smith which featured his entire run.
I always liked the Green Arrow and despite being a Marvel reader, I would casually read the solo Green Arrow series. The replacement Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) wasn’t bad but he was no Ollie. Kevin Smith was already starting to wear thin (in my opinion) by the time he was handed Green Arrow. His work on Daredevil: Guardian Devil was ok, but I think Green Arrow was pretty decent.
Green Arrow (2) #9
The story is rather long. It first re-introduces Green Arrow and then goes into the mystery of how he is missing the ten years before he died. This segues into the whole Hollow storyline which explains how he is alive. It also allows for a reunion for his buddy Hal Jordon who is now the Spectre and smartly gets around the Parallax/Green Arrow awkwardness with a fresh start approach.
The series is rounded out by a throwback to the old DC cartoon character Stanley and his Monster. This is a fun, retro story and also has ties to Neil Gaimen’s famous The Sandman comic. This also permits the completion of Green Arrow’s return and having Ollie official rejoin the DC Universe. This rights the wrong of having him initially killed and brings back the lighter (aka non-’80s and ’90s) Green Arrow.
I don’t always love Kevin Smith’s stuff, but his Green Arrow does work. It is a light, fun look at a character that needs to be light and fun, but he also still needs some bite. Kevin Smith followed up Green Arrow: Quiver with Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence which wrapped up his run on the series.
Related Links:
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters
